NSUDemons.com

NATCHITOCHES -- Northwestern State's 100-player All-Century Demon Basketball Team has been completed with the announcement of the "Fantastic 50" from the Legends Era, spanning the dawn of the program in 1912-13 until 1975-76, the final season before NSU joined NCAA Division I.

The Legends Era all-star team combines with the already-announced "Fab 50" from the Modern Era beginning in 1976-77 to comprise the All-Century Team, which will be spotlighted Saturday afternoon in Prather Coliseum as a highlight of Northwestern's men's basketball Centennial Celebration.

Along with the 100-man team, a handful of honorary captains will be introduced Saturday during the Demons' final home game of the season at 3 p.m. in Prather Coliseum, and at a 6 p.m. Demon Basketball Reunion Dinner in the arena. All NSU basketball alumni are invited and asked to RSVP to the Demon Basketball office at (318) 357-4274.

Headlining the Legends Era "Fantastic 50" is the Demons' career rebounding leader (1,549, 15.2 average) and No. 2 all-time scorer (1,874 points, 18.4 per game), James Wyatt, whose record-shattering career from 1965-69 included nine of the top 13 single-game rebounding totals in school history -- three times reaching the school record of 30.

There were 15 selections whose careers ended in the 1950s, 12 from the 1960s, 10 from the 1940s, seven representing the 1970s, four from the 1930s and one each from the 1920s and the pre-World War I era -- W.H. "Red" Beeson, described as "the bright star of the games" for a 12-2 team in 1913-14, and captain of the one-loss 1914-15 team under coach H. Lee Prather.

The Legends Era roster includes 12 Demons who scored 1,000 career points and 10 who had at least 500 career rebounds. Five of the top six scorers in school history are on the "Fantastic 50" -- Wyatt, Dick Brown (1,802 points from 1952-57), Jimmy "Red" Leach (1,736 from 1954-59, including the single-game record of 54); David Clark (1,583 from 1962-67) and Vernon Wilson (1,548 from 1969-73).

Wilson is one of three All-America performers on the Demons' Legends Era list, along with John McConathy (the No. 5 pick in the 1951 NBA Draft) and Charles "Red" Thomas, whose 1941 All-America honor stemmed from his inspired play at the NAIA Tournament after he sustained a broken nose in the opening game. Thomas succeeded Prather as head coach from 1950-57 and won 138 games in seven seasons.

Wilson's No. 24, McConathy's No. 14 and the No. 5 worn by Thomas are the only three retired jerseys in Demon basketball history.

Prather's 1948-49 team, which set a long-standing school record for wins in a season with a 23-5 record that carried the Demons into the NAIA Tournament semifinals, including a quarterfinal-round win over BYU, had six of its players honored on the "Fantastic 50." Included on the Legends Era listing were Herschel McConathy, John McConathy, J.L. "Leslie" McConathy, Linwood Outz, Claude "Jodie" Stoutamire, Bernard Waggoner and Jim Willis, who became a major league baseball pitcher with the Chicago Cubs.

John and Leslie McConathy were brothers and are joined on the Legends Era squad by a younger sibling, George (1,436 career points from 1952-56). Herschel McConathy was a cousin. Current Demon coach Mike McConathy is John's son.

Also on the team is Tynes Hildebrand, who arrived at Northwestern in 1950 to play for Prather, who had just been named the college's president. Prather relinquished coaching duties to Thomas before the season started and Hildebrand was part of three straight Gulf States Conference championship teams as a player, then returned to be head coach of the Demons from 1965-80, and athletic director from 1983-96.

Another noteworthy member of the "Fantastic 50" is Gayle "Goose" Hatch, who holds the school record for shooting aim in a game (18-21) in a 44-point outing against Kentucky Wesleyan in 1951. Hatch is best known as a Baton Rouge-based strength coach who was the 2004 USA Olympic Men's Weightlifting Team head coach.

Hatch and Thomas are enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

The selections were made by a blue-ribbon panel of two dozen media, coaches, former players and longtime observers of the NSU program.

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Wyatt heads Legends Era picks to NSU's All-Century Team

NSUDemons.comNATCHITOCHES -- Northwestern State's 100-player All-Century Demon Basketball Team has been completed with the announcement of the 'Fantastic 50' from the Legends Era, spanning the dawn